Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Now, That's What I Call A Monday!

Hi, hi, hi! I'm back, I'm back! Didja miss me?

Well, I'm back anyway.

We went up to Massachusetts this weekend so that Rachel could take a closer look at Hampshire, a college that has attracted her attention. She's thinking about transferring there. It's a small college, very rural, and has a pretty (well, I'm assuming it's pretty...it was sort of hard to see this week) campus.

Let me start at the beginning. We flew up to Hartford CT on Sunday morning and got our rental car and made our way over the border and up to Hadley MA (very close to Amherst and pretty close to Northampton, too...keep the word "Northampton" in the back of your mind). Found our hotel and headed over to Hampshire College, where we found Rachel's friend with whom she was going to stay. We all went out to dinner and then dropped the two of them back on campus. And then proceeded to pretty much not see her for the next few days.

But Mr. Pointy Sticks and I had a great time. Despite the snow storm. "Snow storm?" you say. Well, yes, starting Sunday night the snow began. We had seen weather reports so it wasn't a huge surprise. When we finally got up Monday morning the snow seemed to have stopped. The roads were pretty snow-covered and there wasn't a lot of traffic but Mr. Pointy Sticks turned to me and said, "So, you want to go to Northampton this morning?" "Ooooh, yes," I said. Why so excited about Northampton? (I'm sure some of you have figured this out already.)

Because Northampton is the home to Nirvana....

Just look at this....

I mean....look at it! I sort of wanted to lie down on the floor and roll around in ecstasy for a while. I mean, look at these colors!

This is one little rack. I was wandering around in a daze. Fortunately, the store not only has a fantastic selection of yarn, it also has a comfortable waiting section for bored spouses. I bought an armful of yarn but had most of it sent home. (And it was waiting for me today when I got home. Pictures tomorrow!)

After Webs, we tried to find some used bookstores but one of the ones we found was closed because of the storm and the other one had no parking anywhere close...and the snow was really coming down, so we decided to head back to the hotel.

Here's one neat Addams family sort of house I snagged a picture of from inside the moving car. There were some amazingly lovely houses.

We did get to one used bookstore in Amherst. Mr. Pointy Sticks found a couple of books, but I don't think he was too impressed by it.

It's a beautiful building, designed to look like a shtetl, and contains some amazing and heart-breaking history. It's right on Hampshire's campus.

Another fun place on Hampshire's campus is the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, also on the Hampshire campus. I wish I could have taken pictures...but I got to see works by Kay Nielsen, Ernest Shepherd, Trina Schart Hyman, Rosemary Wells and so many others right up close. Incredible. It would be fantastic to have small children and live close enough to get there often.

We had a little snack in the cafe, where I took this picture of a piece of glass art.

And this shot of some flowers. Yes, they're cloth...but it was so nice to see something floral!

After the museum, we hunted for more used bookstores but weren't too successful. Did find a pokey little yarn shop and bought a skein of sock yarn. (Sort of felt as though I had to buy something.)

In the evening we liberated Rachel from the arms of Hampshire, got some dinner and retired to the hotel.

And this morning we headed out from Hadley and were soon once more in the Hartford airport. It has some nice touches...like these rocking chairs.

There are groups of them scattered along the window wall, where you can sit and rock and watch the planes come and go.

And then there was this neat advertising for the Traveler's Insurance company...

The pictures of the big red umbrellas are projected on the wall of the walkway out to the gates. But the neat thing? As you walk past and interrupt the beam of light, you also make the image fly apart. (The big red umbrella is made up of little red umbrellas.)